Judge postpones sentence on man who changes plea
SHAFRAZ Subhrattally, 25 years old, who abducted a 15-year-old girl from her parents’ home after they had left their Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder home to vend at Rose Hall Town Market, at Corentyne, will know his fate on June 5. He changed his not guilty plea on Wednesday after consultations with Defence Counsel Kim Kyte-John and Justice James Bovell-Drakes granted him $150,000 bail until the sentencing.
Narrating the facts of the case, State Prosecutor Rhondel Weaver said the teen was at home when her brother’s cell phone rang at 04:00hrs and she answered the call and spoke to Subhrattally.
She, then, got out of bed and met him outside the house, where he asked her to accompany him to his uncle’s home at Johanna Polder. When they arrived there, half an hour later, they sat under the man’s house and conversed for ten minutes, prior to him leaving her there.
Meanwhile, her mother, having left their residence at 03:00hrs to go and sell produce, received a telephone call from a son, causing her to return home. Following checks for the girl, the woman proceeded to the Mibicuri Police Station, also in Black Bush, where a missing person report was made.
She also reported at Whim Police Station where Corporal Mohammed was given the name of the suspect and it was while making that complaint that the mother saw Subhrattally at the nearby Whim Magistrate’s Court, and pointed him out to Mohammed, as the person she suspected to have abducted her daughter.
When questioned by the plain clothes cop, as to the whereabouts of the teenager, Subhrattally had, initially, denied knowing anything, but later disclosed that the missing girl was at his uncle’s home at Johanna.
The police then went, from Whim Station, in company with relatives to  the uncle’s home, where the girl was found in a garden.

CLOSE FRIENDS
The prosecutor narrated that, in a caution statement, Subhrattally explained that he first met the girl at the Mibicuri Centre Ground during a school sports and, after she took his phone number, she started making calls to him and they became close friends.
The prosecutor said, about 03:30hrs on December 15, 2009, the girl called the convict on his cell phone, asking him to collect her at Mibicuri and take her out. So he took her to his uncle’s home.
Kyte-John told the judge that, while the convicted man has thrown himself at the mercy of the court, she is asking that consideration be given to the factors which helped to mould Subhrattally, who is a product of his community, his cultural orientation and religious practices.
The lawyer pointed out that it was after the occurrence that he was made aware it is unlawful to have a girl under the age of 16 in his possession.
Defence Counsel said, in certain parts of the country, systems need to be put in place to educate persons about the laws and, while the law is present and must be exercised, people must be aware of it.
Kyte-John emphasised that it was at the girl’s request that Subhrattally took her to his uncle’s place.
Counsel submitted that, because the request was made by the girl and the convict took a passive part in heeding her suggestion, he is entitled to an acquittal.
The lawyer said the man in the dock has acknowledged that he is an adult and should have exercised a more mature judgement and not comply with her wish.
Considering the mitigating factors, Kyte-John suggested a suspended sentence or community service rather than a custodial penalty for Subhrattally, who left secondary school in form one.
Raymond Pearson, a deacon of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, urged the court to find that the convicted man was flawless in his deeds with fellow humans.

HELPING HAND
“He is always there with a helping hand to all who are in need. His contribution in the community of Johanna has given me this golden opportunity to stand before my honour in these proceedings. He is an example to a mother and father who brought him up in a home of true religious background. Never a warrior but a lender with a smiling face. His love for residents in the community has earned him a reputation of being a loving and compassionate person,” the preacher said in a plea of mitigation.
Questioned by Weaver, the witness said he associates with the man in the dock daily, because of the closeness of their cultivation plots.
Pearson said he got to know of the incident on December 18, 2009 but has continued their association.
Subhrattally’s mother, Bibi, who also took the witness stand, described her youngest child as a hard working cash crop and rice farmer, who is also a practising Muslim.
The mother of four, while pleading with the Judge to show mercy on her son, said it was financial difficulties that forced him to leave school.
In answer to the prosecutor, the witness said she had accompanied the police to her brother’s home where the missing girl was found.